“Thank you,” said Claire, looking flushed and pretty.
It was obvious to Luke that the steward thought so too, and he squashed the jealousy threatening to rise in him. Claire was fucking gorgeous. Of course other men would notice. They’d have to be blind not to, but he was the one who had her in his bed. It didn’t stop him from glaring at the steward who carefully schooled his face while he lowered a table between them and laid out breakfast and a carafe of coffee.
“Thank you,” said Luke. “That will be all.”
He wanted the man and his wandering eyes gone and quick.
“Of course, sir,” said the steward.
“This looks wonderful,” said Claire, helping herself to a petit croissant and some fresh strawberries.
“You have to eat more than that,” he said, pouring her a cup of coffee. He could see her fighting the urge to roll her eyes. Next to sex, teasing Claire had become one of his favorite things to do.
“What are we going to do first?” she asked, taking a swallow of the average coffee and wrinkling her nose.
“Not that I object to you spending the weekend naked, preferably tied to the bed with these.” He reached over and gave the pearls draped around her neck a tug, and watched as heat and desire warred in her eyes. Surely there would come a time when his cock didn’t spring to life the second he saw her. The time wasn’t yet. “But I thought we could go shopping and get you something to wear.”
“Oh,” she said, barely masking her disappointment.
“Is there something you’d rather do?” Of all the many women he’d dated over the years, not one of them had ever turned down a chance to go shopping with his money. Claire continuously surprised him.
“I guess not. I don’t want to embarrass you at your events.”
“Be honest with me. For the space of this weekend, promise you’ll be completely honest with me.” He waited for her to nod, unsure why it suddenly mattered so much to him. “You could never embarrass me. I just thought you’d like to go shopping, but if you don’t want to, I can just have things messengered in for you to try. Tell me, Claire. It’s your first time in New York City. What do you want to do?”
“I’d love to go to the Museum of Natural History, or MOMA,” she said, using the acronym for the Museum of Modern Art. “Or maybe the Central Park Zoo.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” he said, grinning in spite of himself at her enthusiasm.
“Which one?” she asked, taking another sip of her coffee.
“All of them, Claire. We’re going to do everything.”
THE PLANETOUCHED down at JFK and when the wheels made contact with the ground, Claire let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
“Okay, sweetheart?” asked Luke, giving her hand a squeeze.
She nodded. She’d been afraid a man like Luke would get tired of her when he realized how little she’d seen, but if anything, her naiveté had just the opposite effect. For now at least, he seemed to be taking pleasure in her less than worldly status.
The plane taxied to the terminal and stopped. Luke took her hand and with his other hand on the small of her back, hot through the silk of her blouse, he steered her down the aisle and helped her down the steps. So far north of Carolina, she’d expected it to be cooler, but it was just as hot as it had been at home. They hurried across the blazing tarmac to the artificially cool air of the terminal.
Luke guided her through the building past clumps of frazzled looking travelers, hauling suitcases, strollers and laptop bags to a uniformed man waiting by the exit.
“Mr. Masters. Miss,” said the man, tipping his chauffer’s cap to her. “The car is just out front, sir.”
“Thank you,” said Luke, steering her through the crowd after the man’s receding back.
“Where would you like to go?” the chauffer asked when they were settled in the car.
“The Natural History Museum, please.”
Claire fought the urge to squeal like a child at the announcement, but from the grin on Luke’s face, she wasn’t fooling him. She loved museums; she had since she was a child. She couldn’t wait to see the displays they had at the Museum of Natural History. In just a moment, however, she lost herself in the view outside the tinted window. Manhattan lay sprawled in front of her like some kind of contemporary Oz.
Luke leaned closer, wrapping an arm around her, and pointed.
“There’s the Statue of Liberty,” he said.
She followed the direction of his finger and sucked in a breath when the iconic sculpture came into view.
